


Love (and how it feels when you can’t feel it)

by Queen_of_the_Nerds



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Aromantic Leo, Character Study, Other, Queerplatonic Relationships, queerplatonic Leo/Takumi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 18:02:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20782802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_of_the_Nerds/pseuds/Queen_of_the_Nerds
Summary: Snapshots of Leo through the years as he comes to terms with his aromanticism.A story about being aromantic, by an aromantic author.





	Love (and how it feels when you can’t feel it)

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on tumblr and instagram AGES ago but wanted to put it up here too so I didn’t lose it. Enjoy!

Leo is young when he first learns about the concept of romance; it crops up in almost all of the books he reads, the fiction he indulges in to pass the time. He scowls at the words which speak of blossoming emotions and sweet kisses and wishes the book would hurry up and focus on the real plot again.

He’s older when he hears Camilla express her frustration at their solitude in krankenburg; she speaks of a desire to go out and meet people, flirt, fall in love. Leo doesn’t understand; is the love they have for each other not enough? But then he hears Elise’s confusion and Camilla’s reassurance that “she’ll understand when she’s older,” and he thinks that’s all there is to it.

He’s a teenager when he reasons that he just doesn’t have time for the trivialities of romance. That time spent persuing a partner is time wasted, and that he is far too dedicated to his studies to concern himself with such matters.

He feels lonely.

Leo is seventeen when he decides that he’s broken. He knows that he should feel a desire for romance by now; even Elise, sweet Elise, speaks of her crushes and yearnings for a partner. And Leo realises that he’s never felt anything like that before, and probably never will. 

He won’t ever fall in love.

He feels like a monster.

He’s twenty when he meets Takumi as a friend for the first time. They’re fast friends after their initial rough patch, and Leo finds that he rarely wants to spend time with anyone else. They understand each other in a way no one else has.

“I should love him,” Leo thinks.

But he can’t.

But he does. Love, Leo realises, comes in different shapes and forms, and romantic love is only one of many. But how would he ever explain that to Takumi? How would he explain that he lacks the ability to feel something everyone else seems to? Takumi would think he’s lying, or stupid, or a monster. It doesn’t help that Leo can barely explain his feelings to himself. And so he decides to stay quiet.

Takumi, as always, is the one to break the silence. Leo is twenty two and receiving his first ever love confession and he has no idea how to respond, how to explain to Takumi that he loves him in a way that’s different to how he’s loved anyone before, but he cannot ever love him in the way that he wants. But he tries to explain anyway.

And Takumi tells him it’s okay.

Leo is twenty five and the happiest he has ever been. The relationship he shares with Takumi may be unconventional, but it works and they’re happy and that’s all that matters.

And Leo decides that he’s not so broken after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on:  
Instagram: tyrs_right_hand_ and tyr_cosplay  
Tumblr: tyrs-right-hand  
Twitter: @_bbrynhildr_


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